Workplace Injuries

Most states in the U.S. require non-exempt employers to have workers’ compensation insurance coverage for all their employees. This is to protect workers from the financial losses from a work-related injury and the employers from personal injury liability. It is a good system that works most of the time. That is, unless employers think they can get away with.

North Carolina Industrial Commission has been repeatedly criticized for their lackluster efforts at enforcement of workers’ comp laws and collection of penalties for noncompliant employers. The Commission does not appear to have adequate monitoring procedures for the businesses in their jurisdiction and only finds about an employer’s noncompliance when a worker is injured and makes a claim. This is tantamount to saying it is okay not to pay for workers’ comp insurance as long as workplace accidents don’t happen. This defeats the whole purpose of the state workers’ comp laws.

According to the website of Scudder & Hedrick, PLLC, the incidence of workplace accidents has steadily decreased in Raleigh and the rest of North Carolina, and that is good news. However, that is hardly going to cheer up a seriously injured worker who is not eligible for financial assistance from their workers’ comp insurance because there is no workers’ comp insurance. The only recourse open to workers in such cases is to file a civil lawsuit against the employer for medical expenses, loss of wages, and other related damages of a workplace injury.

North Carolina is not among the best places to live or work in the US, but neither is it the worst. However, if you are injured on the job in North Carolina and thought you had insurance coverage, you’d better find a really good workers’ compensation lawyer in the state to fight for your rights, because you won’t get it from your non-existent insurance carrier.